Saint Patrick’s Athletic boss Liam Buckley has called on his side to keep up their good cup form as they attempt to retain the EA Sports League Cup today.

The Saints are stuck in mid-table of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division, but Buckley’s men have made good progress in the cups this season, recently booking their place in the last four of the FAI Cup.

While the FAI Cup offers a route to Europe, they travel to Limerick today attempting to keep a hold of the League Cup they won last season with a penalty shootout win over Galway.

Ahead of today’s final at Markets Field in Limerick, which is live on eir Sport 1 (kick-off 5.30pm), Buckley is keen to see his side maintain their winning ways in knockout competition.

The Saints boss told stpatsfc.com : “Any time there is silverware up for grabs, you want to win. There’s three domestic competitions in Irish football, and we’re 90 minutes away from winning one of them.

“We’re defending champions and not many sides can say they’ve won defended their crown so we’re really motivated to win on Saturday.”

The Inchicore side recorded a 2-0 win over Limerick in the last 16 of the FAI Cup at Richmond Park last month, but Buckley expects a tough test from the recently-crowned First Division champions on their home patch.

Buckley said: “We’d a good win against Limerick a few weeks ago, but Limerick showed they are a very good side that night and if things had gone their way, the result could have been different.

“We have been working hard all week in preparation for the game and the lads are up for this one.”

Keith Treacy and David Cawley remain out for the Saints, but Buckley has a full squad to pick from otherwise.

Meanwhile, both Dublin clubs in League of Ireland action suffered defeat on Friday night, with rivals Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians losing out to Cork City and Galway United respectively.

Rovers, who suffered a 5-0 hammering to Cork last week in the FAI Cup, again lost out to the Rebel Army with John Caulfield’s side recording a 3-0 win.

Meanwhile, Bohs also lost out on the road as they leaked goals to Galway’s Armin Aganovic and Kevin Devaney in a 2-0 defeat.